Musa.Ingenious

Hi All,

My largest banana plant is over 7ft tall and about 6 months old now.

Yesterday I noticed some strange splits occurring at the base of the plant. These splits took place in sheaths of leaves that have been cut off.

So I tore these sheaths down to expose the healthy pseudostem underneath.

I have come back today and noticed two new splits in another leaf sheath on either side of the stem at the base.

I do not why it appears to be splitting, there is no sign of disease. So I can only put this down to the plant getting bigger at the base?

Can it grow outwards from within??

There is also a new pup spouting but I am not sure if this is a fruiting stem or baby.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Fred.

Backyard Banana Joe

It looks awesome! Sometimes they split when they are healthy and growing fast.

sirdoofus

Mine do that too if they are growing well. Nothing to worry about as far as I am concerned. Those leaf sheaths you peeled off looked to still be healthy, were the leaves on them dead? I don't usually mess with the sheaths unless they are brown, shriveled and look ratty.

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Musa.Ingenious

The leave were dying from nutrient burn so I chopped em off

Valor_X

I agree with everyone
It looks very healthy to me.
Maybe it's just growing very fast?

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From Corm/Pup
Dwarf Cavendish ○ Super Dwarf Cavendish ○ Grand Nain ○ Niño ○ Manzano ○ Raja Puri ○ Tall Namwah ○ Blue Java ○ 1000 Fingers ○ Praying Hands ○ Orinoco ○ Variegated Florida ○ PR Red ○ California Gold ○ FHIA-03 Sweetheart

Plantains
Puerto Rican Dwarf Plantain ○ African Rhino Horn

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cincinnana

It's your banana plants way of loosening its belt or splitting its pants.

Older outside spent leaf sheaths will do that as the plant grows.

Leave them be and let them dry naturally.....remember they are the foundation of your plant and if you remove them you may vertically weaken the plant.

Time to get the plant in the ground

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Musa.Ingenious

This is how the pseudostem looks today:



Is this ok??

cincinnana

Looks like it should

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Musa.Ingenious

It looks very different to earlier, why is the trunk now darker. Like its creeping up:

sirdoofus

Mine do that too from time to time and it hasn't seemingly been a problem. Mostly I notice it early in the growing season when things are a bit wetter and not yet growing at full speed.

Your plant looks healthy but just curiously, how well draining is your potting mix, how often are you watering, and are the dark parts soft/mushy or firm?

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Musa.Ingenious

Before pic rock hard green stem, later pic slight softer stem but not mushy.

The plant has been in a pot in my conservatory for over 6 months. Only just recently put it outside. I removed the drainage tray from the bottom, so any excess rain water can run off into the ground.

I am currently not watering as it is getting a lot of rain.

Potting mix is standard soil, which I sometimes enrich with cold banana tea created from boiling banana skins in a pot with water.

I stopped using fertilizer when the plant was experiencing chemical burn as per my previous threads.

sirdoofus

If there is something to worry about, and I am not sure there is, then for me it would be over-wet potting medium. Not sure what standard soil means necessarily, but it is important that potted bananas be in a free draining mix. Its possible the change in location from conservatory to outdoors/rain may increase the likelihood of over-irrigation if the medium holds too much moisture.

It also may just be the adjustment the plant is going through due to the location change.

If it were me, I would make sure the medium doesn't hold too much water and if it doesn't, then its probably fine and I would just watch and wait.

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cincinnana

[quote=Musa.Ingenious;345230
I stopped using fertilizer when the plant was experiencing chemical burn as per my previous threads.[/QUOTE]

Time to check your roots.

Carefully pop the plant out of the container and inspect them.
If the are black and brown you have root issues which have to be addressed.

Your roots should look like this when healthy.


Light soilless mix
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

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